730 Parking Spaces Returning To Hoboken After This Spring

HOBOKEN, NJ — The city of Hoboken plans to rehabilitate its Midtown Garage on Fourth Street this spring, allowing residents in the parking-strapped city to someday use all 730 spots again.

The City Council unanimously approved a construction contract with Epic Management Inc. at their special meeting on Monday night.

“Right now, we cannot use the garage to its full capacity because of the [dilapidated] conditions," said Mayor Ravi Bhalla on Thursday. "This project will allow us to restore needed spaces, improve reliability for permit holders and visitors, and avoid far more disruptive and expensive emergency repairs down the road.”

Midtown Garage, available for residents to use at a monthly rate, opened in 2003.

According to the city, it was built with thin precast slabs with cast-in-place concrete, a method that has since been discouraged by experts due to its vulnerability to corrosion.

And that's what has happened in the garage, the city said, forcing officials to close various parts of it at different times.

"The garage is more susceptible to corrosion and has fallen into disrepair more quickly than Hoboken’s older municipal garages," the city said in a statement Thursday.

The city’s engineer, Greenman-Pederson Inc., determined that the garage remains structurally sound and safe for continued use, the city said.

But they want to replace the concrete deck slabs and roof beginning this spring to restore the facility and extend its life.

Construction will take approximately three years. The city will maintain access to at least 50 percent of the garage parking spaces at any given time, the city said.

A portion of monthly permit holders will be temporarily relocated to Garages B and D near the city borders, with the city providing advance notice, they said.

For more information on the Midtown Garage Rehabilitation Plan, go to www.hobokennj.gov/resources/midtown-garage-rehabilitation-project.